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THE 



Duty of the Hour 



BY 

• 



EEV. SAMUEL T. SPEAR, D.D., 



PASTOR OF TUB SOUTH TBESBYTEBIAN OHUEOH OF BROOKLYN. 



NEW-YORK : 

ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH, 683 BROADWAY, 

1863. 



i?fd7 



' C' 



NEW YORK POBt. Lant 
IN EXCHAMQS. 



THE DUTY OF THE HOUR. 



EsTiiEK 4 : 14. 
"And who knoweth -whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as th'ia ?" 

These words were addressed by Mordccai to Esther, the wife of Ahas- 
uerus, the Persian monarch. Esther was by birth a Jewess, by condition 
a captive, by marriage a queen, by her mission the elect of Providence to 
save her people from destruction. An awful crisis had arrived in the his- 
tory of the Jews ; by a royal decree they were doomed to general exter- 
mination ; and Mordecai, wishing to secure her interposition in their behalf, 
suggests that perhaps she had '' come to the kingdom for such a time as 
this." Constrained by the argument, she gave herself to the service, and 
was the means of saving her people. Great crises in human affairs often, 
yea generally, either create or find the agency suited to their demands. 

Thus, on the twenty -second day of February, in the year 1732, just 
one hundred and thirty-one years ago to-day, was born a man whom God 
gave to the world, and especially to this country, as one of the richest 
legacies of his Providence. He was forty-four years of age when our fore- 
fathers proclaimed their independence of the British Crown. He was 
chosen as the commander-in-chief of the army during that memorable 
struggle which finally ended in victory, and made us a free and independ- 
ent people. He was twice elected to the Presidency of the United States. 
Having served his country in the field, and in the highest civil station 
known to the laws of this land, he died on the fourteenth of December, 
1799, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. He was a patriot and a Christ- 
ian, a great and good man, heroic on the battle-field and wise as a states- 
man. We speak of him as the Father of our country. The American 
people have been accustomed to hail the anniversary of his birthday, which 
this year liills on the Sabbath, with special marks of respect to his memory. 
I need not say to you that George Washington is the person of whom I am 
speaking. In his age he was the man for the times. In the midst of great 
diflSculties, in the face of severe opposition, often assailed by party jealousy, 
sometimes almost supplanted in his position, always resisted by the Tories, 
he nevertheless held firmly to his course, and guided the Revolutionary 
struggle to victory and success. Humanly speaking, the effort must have 
failed without Washington. Just as he was completing his last term of 
Presidential service, he issued his ''Farewell Address" to the American 
people, warning them against the spirit of party, and urging upon them 
the great importance of the Union for their common prosperity. 

Having nobly done his work, alike as the soldier and the statesman, 
"Washington has been sleeping in his grave for more than half a century. 



The country to whose good he devoted his Ufe, has advanced in all the 
elements of national greatness. The Constitution and the Government 
which he helped to frame, have until recently been the watchwords, the 
glory and pride of all the people. The Union has proved its wisdom by 
its great blessings. We have rejoiced in it, and supposed it to be perma- 
nent. 

Where are we now ? What is the present state of our country ? It is 
a little more than two years since South-Cai"olina began the work of seces- 
sion. She was soon followed by other States. Soon these seceding States 
were organized into a Confederate Government ; and soon thereafter the 
nation's liag was assailed at Fort Sumter. War then commenced— a civil 
war — a war between the Government of the United States and a portion of 
its rebellious citizens — a war on the part of the Government to preserve 
the Union, and on the part of the rebels to destroy it — a war for which the 
loyal people were almost wholly unprepared — a war that has swollen into 
vast dimensions — I may add, a war which, though not always decisive in 
particular combats, and certainly not yet ended, has been one of very 
decided progress to the Federal arms, securing on the side of the Govern- 
ment great advantages, and giving good promise of final victory. 

In the commencement, which was the moment of patriotic passion rather 
than of mature and long-sighted reflection, there seemed to be a very great 
unanimity of opinion and feeling among the Northern people in respect to 
this war. Public sentiment was so near a unit that the exceptions were 
comparatively rare. The language of sympathy with treason was not heard 
on many lips ; and, when heard, provoked the contempt which it always 
deserves. Newspapers that had hitherto shown strong tendencies to favor 
the secessionists, were suddenly converted to the doctrines of loyalty. The 
truth is, the war was popular, so much so, that it swept all opposition 
before it. 

Since that period, and during the progress of the struggle, various causes 
have arisen to agitate and disturb the public mind, to set men to thinking, 
and to call out diversities and conflicts of opinion. The same things 
existed in the war of the Revolution, and in that of 1812; and they are 
likely to exist in any war conducted by a free people. They can be 
avoided only by an absolute despotism, that crushes freedom of thought 
and freedom of speech. War is a tremendously exciting business ; it pre- 
sents a vast manj' questions ; and hence it need be no matter of surprise 
if the people do not all see alike. The fact should frighten no one, and 
stir no man's passions to unreasonable violence. 

We have all shared in some degree of disappointment, mainly, as I 
think, because our expectations in the outset were entirely unreasonable. 
We expected to finish this work with a rush, and in a short time. The 
popular idea of war is that of speedy victory followed by peace, without 
any due consideration of what war means, or what are its difficulties ; and 
hence, when this result is not at once gained, the public heart is very likely 
to yield to "unmanly depression," and vent its passions upon the Govern- 
ment. Under such circumstances we must have something to find fault 
with ; and the most tangible object is the Government. Every man wants 



to be the Government ; and if the result be not what he expected, then, in 
his judgment, it is because his policy was not adopted. 

Some of us, too, have, at times, felt some degree of despondency as to 
the final result ; and if we have talked as we have felt, we have communi- 
cated this feeling to each other. War, especially such as the one in which 
we are engaged, tries men's hearts ; it tries their power of hope ; it tries 
their patience ; and there are some men who are not able to bear this trial. 
They break down under it. If they are not positive croakers themselves 
they are in a very good condition to listen to this mode of talking, and to 
be seriously affected by it. 

There is also among the people an honest dissatisf action vi-\th the method 
in which the Government has conducted this war. The people are not 
agi-eed as to the method ; and since we are all generals, and would be glad 
to be Presidents, there must, of course, be some collision here. Some do 
not like the Proclamation, and others do like it. Some complain of mili- 
tary arrests, and others think them perfectly justifiable. To the eyes of 
some there is an unusual amount of corruption at Washington, while others 
of equal capacity, equal candor, and equal opportunities to judge, see no 
evidence of an}' such thing. There is no use in ignoring the foct, that 
honest men, good citizens, persons who mean to be faithful to their country, 
do not agree as to the method in which this war has been conducted ; and 
the same fact would exist under any policy which it is possible for the 
Government to adopt. It need surprise nobody ; and if we are a reasona- 
ble and a true people, it ought not to harm any body. We may make it the 
source of a tremendous evil ; yet I hope better things of the American 
people. 

There is again a class of persons scattered through the loyal States, 
small as compared with the whole body of the people, of whom one hates 
to think. They are out-and-out traitors, clearly such in feeling, and, so 
far as they dare to be so, such in j)ractice. They have no sympathy with 
the Government in this struggle for life. They rejoice " when the rebels 
are successful," and are " cast down when victory attends the Federal 
arms." Some of them are in ofScial positions, and some of them are edi- 
tors of newspapers. If they were at the South, they would be rebels 
themselves. They are such in feeling. Their sympathies lie wholly with 
the enemy. The conduct of such persons is indeed a great trial to the 
patience of patriotic feeling. It is no slander to call them traitors, since 
this is their proper title. 

In addition to this, we have in the loyal States a somewhat violent dis- 
play of party spirit, instigated and conducted by political leaders, who 
simply want the places of power, and make the war an occasion for gain- 
ing this end. They must, of course, attack the Government. They must 
denounce its policj^ They must do what they can to impair the confi- 
dence of the people in our present national rulers. All this is necessary 
as belonging to the machinery of party tactics. These men, I shall do 
them the justice to believe, do not actually mean to ruin the country. 
What they mean, is to place the political power of the country in their 
own hands. They are partisans when they ought to be patriots. 



6 

I have thus set before you some of the causes of the present agitation 
and conflicts in the public mind. Our present position as a people is a 
state of war with a very formidable foe, somewhat complicated by these 
causes. We are not to-day as harmonious in the prosecution of this war 
as we seemed to be twelve months ago. Such is the plain matter of fact. 
Now, looking the facts squarely in the face, I wish to state to you the 
positive and absolute necessity of our position. The enemy with whom we 
are contending, will make no peace with this Government that is not based 
on disunion. The evidence on this point is so abundant that I do not see 
how any one can doubt it. You can not propose any other terms of peace 
with the rebel authorities at Richmond which they will consider for even a 
moment. So they explicitly say, and so all their actions prove. I believe 
this to be a fixed fact. I hence come to the conclusion that the Govern- 
ment must actually crush this rebellion by force of arms, and thus con- 
quer a peace, and in this way preserve the Union, or that we must consent 
to disunion. This is what I mean by the necessity of our position ; and 
let me tell you that I see no possible escape from it. We may regret it ; 
we may deplore the terrible evils of war ; we may differ as to the causes 
of this bloody contest ; we may complain of this or that measure of the 
Government ; we may contend among ourselves, and thus divide our 
strength ; but here we are as a whole people, driven right up to this neces- 
sity, in a state of war with an armed rebellion which we must conquer, or 
by which we must be conquered. We must succeed or fail. If we fail, 
we shall all go down together. Democrats and Republicans, the supporters 
and the opponents of the war, the politicians and the common people, pro- 
slavery men and anti-slaverj^ men, saints and sinners. "We shall all be 
saved together, or all lost together." We are all in this ship of State, and 
if it founders we shall all founder with it. Those who can not see the 
hopeless destruction of the Union by the defeat of the Government in this 
struggle, seem to me strangely infatuated. Those who suppose that their 
political enemies are to be the only sufferers in the event of such a disaster 
are greatly mistaken. We are one people, living under a common govern- 
ment ; and as such we must share together in the common prosperity and 
glory, or the common disgrace and ruin of our common nationality. In 
the national sense, we shall die together, or live together. 

Having thus stated the case, as I have desired to do, with plainness and 
candor, I come now to inquire into the great and urgent dtity of the hour. 
What ongTit we to do, as a people, in "such a time as this ?" The answer 
which I shall give to this question, and earnestly commend to your consid- 
eration, is this : We ought by eveky means in our power to sustain the 
Government of these United States >n the prosecution of this war. 
This I hold to be the cardinal duty of the hour. Let me in a word explain 
its meaning. 

By the Government I mean the agency for which the Constitution has 
provided, and which the people, acting under this Constitution, have cre- 
ated for the enactment and enforcement of national laws. This is the 
Government ; and of this Government Abraham Lincoln is now the Consti- 
tutional Executive. lie is also the " Commander-in-Chief" of the Army 



and Navy. Not long since I saw in one of the New-York papers this 
phrase : " The Government, as it is called.'''' What did the editor mean by 
the clause '■'■ as it is called'"? I will not answer the question; yet any 
man of common-sense will readily detect the spirit of the clause. I am 
of opinion that Abraham Lincoln is the President of these United States, 
bound by the duties of his office, and entitled to all that respect which the 
laws of God confer upon the civil ruler. Dr. Hodge, of Princeton, in a 
recent article on the war, remarks : " That the government to which our 
allegiance is due is the National Government at Washington, of which 
Abraham Lincoln is the constitutional head." The Administration is now 
the Executive Government, and will be during the period of its constitu- 
tional service. There is no other ; and you can have no other without a 
revolution. This Administration, for at least two years to come, must 
conduct this war ; and during this period the salvation of the nation will 
be in its hands. If this rebellion is to be crushed by force, please to 
remember that this can only be done through the constituted authorities at 
Washington. 

By supporting this Government, I do not mean that the people should 
surrender the right of private judgment, or decline in a proper way to ex- 
press their opinions of its policy. But I do mean that the people should so 
exercise this right as not to aluse it, and bring themselves into conflict with 
the duties they owe to the national authority. They ought not to slander 
their own Government. They ought not to speak disrespectfully of their 
civil rulers. They ought to sustain the financial credit of the nation. They 
ought to obey the laws, and sustain those who are engaged in their execu- 
tion. They ought cheerfully to bear the burdens which are imposed upon 
them. In the time of war, especially such a war as the present, they ought 
to adjourn all minor questions, to frown upon all factious opposition, to lay 
aside the collisions of party strife, and unite as one man in supporting the 
national authority. They surely ought not to cripple and break down the 
very authority which is their only defense and safety, at the very moment 
in which the enemy is upon them. The Government should be wise ; it 
should be efficient ; it should remember that the peoi>le are thinkers ; but 
when the Government, in such a crisis, taking counsel of its own wisdom, 
and all the wisdom it can bring to its aid, has enacted its laws and fixed its 
policy, then the people must sustain it, or civil society is a failure. I know 
that tiiere are extreme cases of conscience, and enormous oppressions justi- 
fying a popular revolution, that qualify these statements ; but no man of 
candor will pretend that in the loyal States we have reached any such ex- 
tremities. Parties are quite apt to see such extremities where they do not 
exist; traitors always see them ; yet I think this is a time when the people 
should not allow either politicians or traitors to spread confusion and discord 
in their own ranks. 

I have thus stated as clearly as I can what I mean by the Government, 
and also what I mean by supporting it. The Government intends to prose- 
cute this war to final victory; such is its public declaration to the world; 
and I ask you to give it your earnest and hearty support for the followmg 
reasons ; 



8 

The first is the fact that it is a government, not one so " called," but 
ONE IN FACT AS WELL AS RIGHT. Allegiance of both sentiment and practice 
to government is a religious obligation. The Bible makes it snch. " Gov- 
ernment is a divine institution." Obedience to the powers that be is a moral 
duty. Disloyalty is both a crime against the State and a sin against the 
God of Heaven. Traitors, whether Northern or Southern, pro-slavery or 
anti-slavery. Democratic or Republican, editorial or political, traitors in pub- 
lic or private life, are sinners against God ; they break the law of Heaven ; 
and those who countenance or aid them, designing to do so, are partakers 
with them in this guilt. Have we a Government in this time of wai' — a 
legislative, executive, and judicial authority still existing in this nation? 
"We certainly have ; the action of this authority, moreover, is the supreme 
law of the land, and by the laws of God we are required to obey it. There 
is not a man in this whole land, whose property or services the Government 
may not command for the purpose of conducting this war. Some people 
talk about resistance, if this or that measure should be adopted, if consa'ip- 
tion should be resorted to as the means of filling up the ranks of the army. 
Let me tell you that this means anarchy, and that anarchy means perdition. 
Let there be an anti-war party in the loyal States, forcibly resisting the na- 
tional authority, or undertaking to do any thing of a compulsory nature in 
opposition to that authority, and you will have two civil wars instead of one. 
The national authority is the interpreter of its own rights and duties, as it 
must be if it be the supreme Government of the land ; and no action of indi- 
viduals, no resolutions of State Legislatures, no Conventions of Commission- 
ers, must forcibly cross its path. You may at the proper time change the 
2)ersons who wield this authority ; but you must not touch the authority 
itself. This is sacred by the laws of God. To this, you and I, and all the 
people, owe the duty of loyalty ; and by this I mean " the allegiance and 
service which the law requires of a citizen to his countr}', or of a subject to 
his sovereign." I have always been a law and order man. I am so to-day. 
For this reason I denounce treason as an atrocious crime. I believe it to be 
such. I can have no sympathy with men who make light of the sanctity of 
law. My Bible teaches me that the civil ruler is the minister of God. 

The second reason which I offer for supporting the Government, con- 
sists IN the fact THAT THE NATION IS IN A STATE OF WAR. I do HOt nOW de- 
cide what kind of a war it is, or whether it be just or not. I simply declare 
it to be a state of war. We have armies in the field, that have gone forth at 
the call of the Government, to fight the battles of their country. They are 
facing the enemy, and the enem.y facing them. They are to win victories or 
suffer defeats. Now, what will you do in such a state of things ? Will you 
desert the Government and army of your country in the presence of an armed 
foe, break down the one and starve the other, and thus force a peace upon 
the nation that will be its disgrace, and perhaps its ruin ? Will you be in- 
difierent to a struggle in which your own country is involved ? Are you 
going to act the part of traitors yourselves by giving aid and comfort to the 
enemy? Surely not. I think better of you. I think better of the people 
of theloj'al States. There is a principle of patriotism involved, which must 
have influence with everv noble and generous mind. It is for this reason 



9 

that an anti-war party, that in the time of war seeks to embarrass and per- 
plex the Government, when it comes to be fairly understood by the people, 
is quite sure to seal its own fate. The Hartford Convention was so regarded 
in the war of 1812, I think undeservedly, yet it was so regarded ; and the 
very name has ever since been a stench in the nostrils of the nation. War 
is an hour of peril ; it is an hour of trial and suffering ; it is an hour when 
the powers of a nation are put to the test ; it is an hour when the national 
honor and safety are at stake; and hence I insist that the state of war gives 
special emphasis to the doctrine of allegiance. This surely is not the time 
for the people to desert their own flag, and seek to embarrass the Govern- 
ment which affords them protection. Then, if ever, a man should stand up 
for his country, and give to its public authorities his earnest support. He 
may desire peace ; he should do so ; but until the Government can safely 
make a peace, patriotism requires him to sustain it in prosecuting the war. 
This is always the surest road to a safe peace. Peace purchased at the price 
of dishonor, especially the inglorious prostration and ruin of one's country, 
is always too dearly bought. It is a greater evil than war. " I am amazed,'' 
says General Rosecrans, in a recent letter to the Legislature of Ohio, " that 
any one could think of 'peace on any terms.' He who entertains the senti- 
ment is fit only to be a slave. He who utters it at this time is moreover a 
traitor to his country, who deserves the scorn and contempt of all honorable 
men." These are earnest words. They come from one who has a right to 
speak to the people, and urge them to support the Government in this terri- 
ble contest. In times likes these every man ought to uphold the national 
authority. This is our only safety. 

As A THIRD REASON FOR SUSTAINING THE GOVERNMENT, I NAME THE OBJECT 

OF THIS WAR. By object^ I mean the declared purpose of the Government in 
its prosecution. Upon this question there ought to be no mistake in the 
public mind. There surely is no occasion for it, since this purpose has been 
proclaimed in the most distinct and complete manner. Both houses of Con- 
gress have said to the people and said to the world, that the sole and only 
object of the war is to suppress the rebeUion and restore the Union. In his 
Inaugural Message the President declared that it would be his purpose to 
execute the laws, with paternal tenderness beseeching the Southern people 
to return to their allegiance. In his Messages to Congress the President has 
announced the same purpose. The diplomacy of the Government with for- 
eign nations bears the same stamp. In his Proclamation of September last, 
the President declares " that hereafter, as heretofore, the war will be prose- 
cuted for the object of practically restoring the constitutional relation be- 
tween the United States and the people thereof, in such States as that rela- 
tion is or may be disturbed." It is easy to say, for political and party pur- 
poses, that the war has become an Abolition war, a war to put down slavery 
a war for the negro, and not for the Union ; this is the current slang of 
many newspapers ; yet, so far as the Government is concerned, there is not 
the first word of truth in the statement. The declared purposes of the Gov- 
ernment prove it to be absolutely false. Those who make the statement 
have the means of knowing it to be false. The position at first taken by the 
Government, is the one maintained to-day. I can not tell what God means 



10 

by this war, but I think that no reasonable and candid man can be in doubt 
as to the purpose of the Government. Those who misrepresent this purpose 
do not state the truth, and some of them are justly chargeable with a willful 
falsehood. 

But has not the Govei iment resorted to the principle of emancipation in 
application to rebels, as one of the measures of this war ? It has done so, 
and on the same theory that it has raised an army and built a navy. It has 
done so for the purpose of breaking down the rebellion, and restoring the 
Union. This is the express and only doctrine of the President. You may 
think it unwise; you may doubt its constitutionality; as individuals, wears 
of course entitled to our own opinions ; but let us not forget that the Consti- 
tution makes the President the judge on both points. His judgment is final ; 
certainly so until some competent court shall pronounce it unconstitutional. 
"We had better leave military matters" and military necessities "in the 
hands of those to whom they belong." Above all, we had better not make 
our individual opinions, without the means of an enlarged judgment, the rule 
of either supporting or opposing the Government, in this dreadful struggle 
for national life. We had better not let our pro-slavery or our anti-slavery 
affinities, whether gratified or not, become the law of our allegiance or the 
measure of our devotion to the public authority, in this hour of peril. I for 
one do not like the prevalent idea of the recent speeches of Wendell Phillips. 
I am an anti-slavery man through and through ; I want to see slavery re- 
moved from this land, and wil' do all that I can righteously do to secure this 
end. But I am for the Union, slavery or no slavery ; and this I do not un- 
derstand to be the position of Mr. Phillips. I hope that I do not misrepre- 
sent him. I think I do not. I want to add that I have as little sympathy 
with those men whose only god is slavery, who would rather see the Union 
perish than saved if slavery is to be touched, who shout abolition from sun- 
rise to sunset, as if the word itself were the end of all argument, and who 
clamor against the Government and seek to weaken the confidence of the 
public in it, because it has adopted emancipation as a war measure. Who 
are these men, and what are their antecedents ? Some of them are unmis- 
takably in sympathy with the rebels ; and some of them use language abso- 
lutely treasonable — language which, if they were at the South and applied 
the same to the rebel authorities at Richmond, would cost them their lives. 
Claiming the right of free speech, they most sadly aiiise it to their country's 
peril. I am sorry to say such things ; I do not charge them upon any ono 
'of my hearers ; yet the hour has come for plain talking. There is no dis- 
guising the fact that we have traitors at the North — 'men who are heart and 
soul with the rebellion. The fact is so, and we may as well say it. 

Has not the Government, by military arrests and confinement, interfered 
with the liberty of some of the people in the loyal States ? It has done so ; 
and perhaps in this it has made a mistake, and perhaps it has not. At any 
rate, the object was to prevent traitors from ruining the country. The thing 
was done when the land was heaving with the spirit of revolution, and tho 
fate of the nation hanging upon a hair ; and moreover, when it was done 
public sentiment approved of it as a just and necessary measure to save tho 
nation. Now I will suppose that the Government mi.'^judgcd as to these 



11 

militar}'- arrests, either as to the entire principle itself, or in some cases as to 
the persons arrested ; and then I respectfully ask, are we going to be so 
foolish, so narrow-minded, so blind to our duties, and so insensible of our 
perils, as for this reason to decline giving to the Government our earnest 
support in the prosecution of this war for the conquest of the rebellion and 
the restoration of the Union ? xVre we going to divide and contend among 
ourselves, and thus destroy our own power, with the enemy before us and 
the life of the nation committed to our charge ? Are we going to paralyze 
the energies of the Government, and practically desert the army in the field, 
while we stop to debate the undecided question whether the President has 
or has not the right to suspend the writ of habeas corpus in a time of rebel- 
lion ? No, my hearers, I do not think we shall. I think the sober second 
thoughts of the xVmerican people, if not their first thoughts, will lead to bet- 
ter counsels. 

I appeal to you as the lovers of the Union ; such I believe you honestly 
to be ; and if I had the ear of the nation, I would appeal to that ; and I 
would say to every man who loves the Union, that the object of this war, as 
declared by the Government, is to save the Union, and for this reason I 
would ask every man to put his shoulder to the wheel, whatever may be his 
private opinions about this or that measure. This argument, I know, will 
find a response in all loyal hearts. I do not expect that it will have weight 
with those who are willing to make peace on any terms, even at the price of 
disunion. 

I URGE YOU, IX TUE FOURTH PLACE, TO SUPPORT THE GOVERNMENT, BECAUSE 

SUCCESS ON OUR PART IS OUR ONLY NATIONAL SALVATION. I have always be- 
lieved that we can succeed. I believe so now. Give us time enough— the 
question of time is a large element in war ; and we can certainly triumph in 
the end. "We can solve the problems of finance and the problems of the 
battle-field, and at last exhaust the foe and brin<, aim to terms. We have 
the power. All we want is the will and the endurance. 

How shall we succeed ? I need not tell you that it must be through the 
public authorities at Washington, and that these authorities are absolutely 
powerless unless sustained by the people. I need not tell you that we must 
conquer a peace, or surrender to the enemy. Peace on any other basis is 
now utterly out of the question. Successful war is now the only peace- 
maker. Anglo-Saxon blood is pitted against Anglo-Saxon blood, and one or 
the other party must at last yield. If we yield, the nation is lost. If we 
persevere, as we can, the rebellion is crushed, and the nation saved. There 
is before us no other way of salvation. We are absolutely shut up to suc- 
cessful war, or disunion. To make any terms with an armed rebi'llion till 
it either submits or achieves its own triumph, is positively fatal. Mr. Barnes 
well remarks: "God treats with men in rebellion only when they submit to 
authority and law ; and a government that recognizes a conspiracy and a 
rebellion, and which treats with it as such, is already at an end." Those 
who want the Government to treat with the rebels, are very wide of the 
mark. In the first place, they will not treat with us on any basis but dis- 
union ; and in the second place, if they would, we can not treat with them 
till they lay down their arms. We must fight them, and that, too, success- 



12 

fully, or die. It is a question of life or death on their part, and equally so 
on our part. 

What, then, 'will you do ? Will you stand back and simply look on ? 
Will you spend j^our breath in criticising the Government ? AV'ill you be 
mainly occupied in laying plans for the next Presidential election ? Will 
you foster the spirit of faction ? Will you plot in secret places to distract 
the public mind ? Will you encourage the rebels to hold on in this strug- 
gle ? Are you going to give countenance and comfort to those who are doing 
all that they can to weaken the energies of the Government ? In such an 
hour, in such a crisis, is it possible that newspapers and politicians will 
" persist, at all hazards, in spreading discord, bitterness, and strife among 
the people and in the army" ? Is it possible that the people themselves 
will consent to be made the victims of such an awful folly ? Let the peo- 
ple take this course, and the nation is ruined. Our destruction is sure. 
Fate is then at our very doors ; and unless we arouse ourselves, and cor- 
rect so great a mistake, the angel of death will pierce the very soul of our 
national life. I can not think — no, I can not think, that the great body of 
the people in the loyal States can be persuaded to deliver themselves up to 
such evil counsels. They are patriots ; they love their country ; and they 
will fight for it to the very death. They will not, they can not, consent to 
the dismemberment of this nation ; and since success in war is the only 
method of averting this result, they will fight it through to the end. The 
peace men on any terms, the anti-war men, those who would sell out their 
country, the sympathizers with rebellion, those who spend a large part of 
their time in croaking, those who vilify and slander the Government, will 
either change their position or lose all influence over the public mind. There 
is intelligence in this country ; there is virtue here ; and, as I believe, enough 
of both to save the nation, notwithstanding the clouds that now darken the 
sky. Let England or France forcibly intervene, and let the President call 
the nation to arms, and you would soon see of what stuff the American 
people are made. You would see an exhibition of the character that is in 
them, and which being in them, will, with the blessing of God, carry them 
victoriously through this struggle. They are bound to go through. They 
can not avoid it if they would, and they would not if they could. The 
necessity is upon them. And this is true, whether the Government at 
Washington be Republican or Democratic. No party can administer this 
Government, or terminate this war, against the overwhelming sentiment of 
the people, that the nation must and shall be preserved. We may be de- 
layed by our divisions on minor questions ; we may prolong the war ; wc 
may, by the contests of party, put our country to great trial and even jeop- 
ardy ; but we shall come to this at last. This is the position of the North- 
ern people ; and they never will forsake it, because in the very nature of 
things they can not. On this point I advise you to be of good cheer, and 
look hopefully into the future. Stand by the Government of your country, 
which is now your only salvation ; and all things will come out right. 

As to the fanatics and political lunatics, who look at this war exclusively 
from the anti-slavery stand-point, you need not trouble yourselves. They 
are not the Government, and never will be. 



13 

As to Northern traitors, I advise you not to be deceived by their treache- 
ry, or frightened by their bhister. Some of them are bankrupt poHticians ; 
and some of them never knew what the word Jionesti/ means. Some of them 
shout Hberty when they mean slavery. All of them are the enemies of their 
country. Their creed consists in opposing every thing done by the Govern- 
ment to conquer the rebellion. Do yourselves the justice to understand 
them, and them the justice to despise them, and then have the candor to 
tell them so. " Such persons," says Dr. Hodge, of Princeton, " should at 
least be marked and avoided. All political support or encouragement should 
be withheld from them." I think they will be marked. In the public 
esteem they will at last go to their own place, and then they will stay there. 
True men, honest men, real patriots, men that have not played into the 
hands of the rebels, men who have devoted themselves to the salvation of 
their country, arc the men whom the people will delight to honor. They 
will have a place in history, while the traitors Avill either be forgotten or I'e- 
membered only to be detested. 

I ASK YOU, I>r THE LAST PLACE, TO SUSTAIN THE GOVERNMENT IN THE PROSE- 
CUTION OF THIS WAR, AS A DUTY WHICH YOU OWE TO THE LOYAL PEOPLE OF THE 

Southern States. There are some loyal people in these States ; and they 
have suffered, and are suffering, at the hands of the rebel authorities at 
Richmond, to an extent that is perfectly appalling. They have been driven 
from their homes. They have been persecuted. They have been impris- 
oned. They have been murdered bj'' hundreds. They have been forced 
by thousands into the rebel army. They have been hunted in the moun- 
tains, and dragged from their hiding-places, and compelled to fight against 
the flag of their country. A more atrocious despotism than that which 
Jefferson Davis now wields against Union men in the South, never disgraced 
any age. It is unpitying and remorseless. It is no injustice to say that it 
is set on fire of hell. We had supposed, that, at least in this country, the 
age of martyrdom was passed ; but it seems that we were mistaken. There 
have been martyrs at the South — men \vho by ruthless and wicked hands 
have gone up to glory and to God, guilty of no other crime than allegiance 
to the supreme Government of this land. When the inside history of this 
rebellion shall be fully written, as in due time it will be, the civilized world 
will see what slavery is, and how it is fatal alike to the liberties of the white 
man and the black. Read the recently published volume of the Rev. Mr. 
Aughey, a Southern minister, entitled The Iron Furnace, giving an ac- 
count of the sufferings and outrages inflicted upon Union men in Northern 
Mississippi ; and your spirits will burn with unwonted fires. Other equally 
credible witnesses have testified to similar facts in other parts of the South. 
In one of the prisons of North-Carolina, according to a statement recently 
made, there are between three and four hundred Southern men shut up, 
simply because they believe in the old flag. This is their only crime. East- 
Tennessee has been ravaged, and her faithful sons persecuted to death. She 
has implored the Federal troops to come to her help. A gentleman last 
week returned to this city from one of the prisons in Richmond, about one 
hundred feet in length and thirt\--five feet in width, and containing in a 
single room some two hundred and thirty men, some of them Federal pri- 



14 

soners, and some of them Union Southern men. The prisoners are furnished 
with no beds or blankets, and live on a pint of soup salted with saltpetre 
and a small piece of bread, supplied twice a day. The prison is literally 
alive with vermin. Every man has to lie down among them, and to be al- 
most eaten up by them. This gentleman upon whose authority I make 
these statements, narrates the case of a Baptist minister from East-Tennes- 
see, sixty years of age, who has been in this prison for more than a year. 
He was suspected of not being in sympath}' with the rebellion ; and to test 
him he was required to take the oath of allegiance to the Confederate Gov 
ernment ; and this he would not do, and because he would not, he was in- 
stantly arrested, and has ever since been incarcerated in Richmond. He 
states many other cases of a like nature. One man was dragged from his 
home in Virginia, without his coat on, without his boots on, without the 
permission to go into his own house and bid farewell to his family. Another, 
a comparatively young man, has been repeatedly visited by his brother, and 
urged to take the oath of allegiance. But he will not. He is determined 
to rot there rather than violate his conscience. 

Such facts stir my blood. They arouse my indignation against this wicked 
rebellion, and against the men who are its leaders. I have no rose-water 
diction for such things. I pity these martyrs. I honor them. History 
will honor them. They are among the very truest men in this land. They 
know what the rebellion is ; and this is the reason why they speak of it so 
stronglj^ Thinking of them and feeling for them, I see one reason why I 
should earnestly support the Government of the United States. I want to 
see that great Moloch of death crushed, which crushes them ; and this, I 
know, can only be done bj' successful war conducted by the national authori- 
ties. 

What say you, my friends, in regard to this point ? Are we at the 
North, who have had no such bitter experience, the men to look on with 
indifference ? Are we going to divide our strength in useless debate, when 
our friends and brethren bleeding at the South are beseeching heaven and 
earth that we should be united ? Have we lost our souls, our reason, our 
moral natures, our patriotism, in one general wreck of all that makes a 
man, pitching and diving upon the angry seas of party politics, the sport of 
our own selfish passions, and that, too, when the groans and shrieks of 
suffering patriots are calling us to the rescue ? Shame on the man ! Eter- 
nal shame upon the man who in such a crisis is unfaithful to his country 
and to the Government which is its only protection ! Who seeks not to 
strengthen, but to weaken the national arm ! Whose policy, plans, and 
words palpably betray his sympathies with the rebellion ! Who has no 
earnest words of cheer for the soldier ! Who would demoralize the army, 
if he could ! Who would destroy its confidence in the Government ! Who 
riots in the divisions of public sentiment ! Who makes it his business to 
sow discord ! Who under the deceptive cry of peace, is ready to welcome 
the dishonor and even the deatli of the nation ! That man is my enemy, 
and your enemy — the enemy of the country as truly as was Benedict 
Arnold. He is no patriot ; and to denounce him as a traitor is simply to 
speak justly of him. It is a virtue to abhor him. 



15 

I am done, my brethren, with this subject for the present. I have 
spoken plainly, I trust not offensively to your ears. I bring no railing 
accusation against this congregation, or against any member of it. I am 
conscious of no unhallowed bitterness of spirit ; yet I am entirely in earnest. 
It is no time for men or ministers to avoid responsibilities. I will not. I 
shall not ask the newspapers or the politicians what I may say in this 
place. The newspapers and the politicians, yea, this church that has so 
long honored me with its confidence, and every man in it, and myself into 
the bargain, are to me lighter than a feather, in comparison with the 
interests of this nation at the present moment. I would disown my father 
and my mother, yea, I would disown every being in this world, sooner than 
be untrue to the flag of my country in this hour of peril. I care not who 
administers the Government. I care not whether the Administration be 
Democratic or Republican. When the proper time comes for me to vote, I 
shall vote according to my best judgment, and you will do the same ; but 
until that time I shall in this death-struggle support the present Govern- 
ment, and that, too, whether all its measures exactly suit my notions or 
not. I shall do so because it is the Government, the only Government 
through which this nation can now be saved. I do not find fault with 
friendly criticism of its measures for the purpose of making them better ; I 
do not complain of the newspaper press for seeking to guide as well as 
reflect public sentiment ; this is all right and proper, especially in a land 
like ours ; but a malignant and concerted attack, with the plain intention of 
breaking down the Government, and undermining it in the confidence of the 
people, — misrepresenting its polic}^, — seizing upon every possible occasion 
to damage it, — loading it with opprobrious epithets, — speaking disrespect- 
fully of our national I'ulers, — styling it " the Government, as it is called''^ 
— all this, let me tell you, is a very different thing, and springs from a very 
different motive. It is not according to the laws of human decency, or 
those of God at any time; and at such "a time as this," when our rulers 
need the utmost sympathy and support on the part of the people, when 
they are bearing as heavy burdens as ever rested on the shoulders of 
mortal men, when according to their best wisdom they are doing all that 
they can to conquer the rebellion and save the nation, at such a time it is 
positively wicked. This thing I mean to rebuke. It deserves rebuke. 
The country is agitated with it to its very serious danger. Its tendency is 
evil, and only evil, and that continually. Such agitators, if they do not 
actually mean treason, are nevertheless serving the cause of treason as 
effectually as if they meant it. Their course is positively infamous. 

Before pausing I want to say a word in respect to those unprincipled 
factionists, who are seeking to create the impression that New-England is 
the responsible source of all our difficulties, and that if the Yankees of New- 
^England — in the elegant diction of these gentlemen — were " left out in the 
1," then the Middle and Western States might very easily patch up a 
ipromise with their Southern brethren. I am glad they say it, since it 
in their hearts to say it. Saying it shows the men, and equally what 
mean. New-England, however, need not, I presume will not, trouble 
elf with their sneers. She needs not my defense. There she is on the 




012 026 759 



16 



page of history. You can read her. New-England is the land of the Puri 
tans, of the men who brought the principles of civil liberty to this country. 
The movement which made us a free and independent people was born in 
New-England. The war of the Revolution received its largest support from 
New-England. Massachusetts contributed eighty-three thousand and nine- 
ty-two soldiers to the Revolutionary army, and the States of Delaware, 
Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina, and Georgia, all put 
together, contributed only seventy-one thousand one hundred and thirty, 
or eleven thousand nine hundred and sixty-two soldiers less than the 
single State of Massachusetts. Bunker Hill is in New-England. Concord 
and Lexington are there, and some other places known to fame. They 
have school-houses there and churches, and no slavery. In New -England 
they recognize the dignity of labor. They have free speech thei'e. They 
keep the Sabbath there. I believe there are some colleges in New-England. 
If I mistake not, Daniel Webster hailed from New-England. In New- 
England the people read, and write, and think. They have, to a good 
degree, " sound political information," quite as good as that of those who 
never heard of Webster's Dictionary, and were never guilty of looking into 
a spelling-book. New-England repudiates secession, and means to fight 
treason to the death. New-England believes in the doctrine of Govern- 
ment. She believes that this nation is a nation, and not a rope of sand. 
A few of her sons and daughters are in the West, indeed quite a number of 
them ; some of them have gone as far as Kansas, and others even to Cali- 
fornia. New-England ideas, like New-England shoes and New-England 
plows, are quite a common article in this country. I think they will 
remain so. Somehow ideas after all rule the world, and New-England is 
the land of ideas. " Leave New-England out in the cold ! " I think you 
will be mistaken. Let me tell you that New-England means to stay in the 
Union ; she belongs to it and it belongs to her ; she means, too, that the 
Union shall be preserved ; and when you attempt to put her out, you will 
hear the crack of her Springfield rifles and the thunder of her cannon in 
a way well calculated to instruct traitors and cowards. I am amazed and 
indignant at this graceless and wicked slang upon New-England. If there 
is any lower deep this side of the bottomless pit, to which mortal man can 
descend, then I frankly confess that I do not know what or where it is. 
No, my hearers, New-England will stand by the country, and the country 
will stand by New-England ; in this straggle the East and the West will be 
a unit ; and with the blessing of God the nation will be saved and traitors 
will be disappointed. 



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